The Sky’s the Limit for Palestinian Kids

Two years ago, after taking young Palestinians on typical outings–pools, fairs, playgrounds–Lina Khoury had a brainwave. “Why do those kids have to leave the camp to live their childhoods? Why don’t we create a beautiful space inside the camp where they can play every day and not have to wait their one turn per month to go on a trip?” With this inspiration, Kahkaha was born.

While it was tough to convince funders that playgrounds should be a camp priority, Khoury says the biggest challenge was lack of space. Bourj el Barajneh’s one square kilometer, for example, holds 28,000 residents. The radical solution? Play on roofs. So far three playgrounds have been built–one in Sabra and Shatilla and two in Bourj al-Barajneh–to serve over 1,000 kids. Now that the third playground–this one a garden on the ground–is complete, the funding drive is on for a fourth in Naher el Bared.

Kahkaha means “laughter” in Arabic, and its results live up to its name. “Every time we finish a playground, there’s a huge satisfaction we cannot explain,” Khoury beams. “We are giving Palestinian kids the opportunity to play in a safe environment like any other normal kids. We are returning to each child his right to play safely.”

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Poet, writer and teacher Jennifer MacKenzie grew up on Bloomcrest Dr. in Bloomfield Hills, MI, which inspired her to wonder about places with patterns other than floral. Following her education at Wesleyan University's College of Letters and the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop, she followed a zig-zag course that included a pilgrimage across the top of Spain and a long sojourn in Syria in pursuit of the language of Muhammad al-Maghout and Moudthaffar al-Nawwab. While in Damascus she completed the books of poems "Distant City" and "My Not-My Soldier" (forthcoming from Fence Books) and edited the magazine Syria Today. Her poems and essays can be found in numerous journals including the Kenyon Review online, Guernica, Quarterly West, and Lungfull. She currently lives in New York.